Florentino Perez: The malevolent mastermind.

Florentino Perez, known to the world as the president of Real Madrid C.F is also the chairman of Grupo ACS. Florentino Perez is currently serving his fifth term as the president of Real Madrid C.F and has been one of the most successful presidents in the history of the club. Here we take a look at his five terms under three different time frames.

2000-2006

Florentino Perez first ran for the presidency of Real Madrid in the year 1995 but lost to Ramón Mendoza. His second attempt turned out to be successful when he defeated Lorenzo Sanz in 2000, the president then after highlighting the financial issues of the club and promising the Bernabéu faithful that he'd lure Luis Figo to the Spanish capital from FC Barcelona. Figo's transfer marked the start of Perez's Galáctico policy under which he was able to rope in Zinedine Zidane from Juventus in 2001, Ronaldo in 2002 from Inter Milan, David Beckham in 2003 from Manchester United, Michael Owen in 2004 and Robinho in 2005. Perez's policies reaped great success as Real Madrid won 2 La Liga's and their ninth UCL, La Novena. He even claimed success in clearing the club's debt. Perhaps his most contentious decision was the sale of land owned by Real Madrid in La Castellana Avenue, Ciudad Deportiva. The club sold this plot of land for approximately €500m. He went on to build a state of the art training complex Ciudad Real Madrid in Valdebebas.

All the players' image rights were transferred to the club which ensured some seriously hefty income for Madrid. The club was commercialized at every level and marketed to the extreme.

Everything was perfect until he decided against renewing Del Bosque's contract, the gaffer then even after leading the team to domestic success the following season. Many players were bought without the input of Del Bosque and there were allegations that the Real Madrid hierarchy had more control over the transfer policy, interfered in the team selection and other aspects that minimized the level of control Del Bosque had during his time as manager. Reportedly, this led to a standoff between Del Bosque, several players, and the board which saw captain Fernando Hierro leave in the summer of 2003. Things went from bad to worse when Perez had an altercation with Claude Makélélé regarding wages which led to Claude's departure in 2003.

Real Madrid was successful on the financial front but could not find much success on the pitch which led Perez to step down from the presidential post in 2006 during his second term citing that the team needed a new direction.

2009-2015

Cristiano unveiled at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu

In 2009 Florentino once again ran for the presidential elections and won. Perez continued with his Galáctico policy and set the transfer market on fire with the world record fee signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009 for £80 million from Manchester United. He even went on to sign Kaká from Milan, Benzema from Lyon, Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa & Albiol but made the mistake of forcing Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder out of the club to balance his books. Perez sacked Manuel Pellegrini in 2010 after a trophyless season and replaced him with José Mourinho. Mourinho's tenure was successful domestically but Madrid's eagerness for their tenth UCL, La Décima was increasing and the growing tension in the dressing room saw Mourinho depart and Carlo Ancelotti's arrival. There was a major shakeup in the team with the arrivals of Gareth Bale, Isco and Illaramendi and exit of Higuain and Özil. The following season proved to be a resounding success, as Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey and its tenth Champions League title but Ancelotti's stay was short lived as he faced the sack after going trophyless in the season 2014/15 that followed.

That season also saw club legend Iker Casillas leave the club in a tragic way after seeing a drastic dip in form and fighting for a berth in the starting XI. Iker Casillas was forced to leave by Perez to create a vacancy for David De Gea, who ultimately ended up staying at Manchester United. He was even accused by Perez of being the mole in the team, revealing secrets to his girlfriend Sara Carbonero in a bid to win back his starting place. Casillas's departure spurred a huge controversy and enraged the Madrid fans.

2015- present

Zinedine Zidane Announced As New Real Madrid Manager

The incoming new manager Rafa Benitez was also sacked after a poor string of results and Zinedine Zidane was entrusted with the job. Zidane united the team and made full of the resources at his disposal leading Real Madrid to three consecutive UCL titles. During Zidane's tenure, Perez changed his transfer policies. Perez was keen on signing players for the future after securing the present and dropped the idea of signing established players in such an inflated market. His idea was to sign promising players and promote players from Castilla. During this phase, Real Madrid went on to sign Marco Asensio, Vallejo, Rodrigo, Mariano, Andriy Lunin, Vinicius Jr, Odriozola, Theo and Ceballos meanwhile promoting Franco Valverde, Achraf Hakimi, Reguilón, Marcos Llorente and Luca Zidane. Perez gave up the chance of signing Kylian Mbappe just to maintain the team's wage structure and prevent dressing room unrest. Learning from his previous mistakes Perez reduced his interference in team management. The club changed its policy and sent their young players out on loan in search of the first-team experience only to mature enough and make their way into the squad some day.

Perez being a shrewd businessman always made a profit on his sales with the likes of Mesut, Di Maria, Danilo, Alvaro Morata, Higuain, James and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Juventus was the most dramatic since no one came out in public to clarify the circumstances under which it happened but it is believed that it was due to a rift between Perez and Ronaldo. Ronaldo was unhappy with the support he got from Madrid in dealing with his tax issues and also had his pay rise demand rejected which led to further tiff. For Perez, even this was an excellent business as he had received £105 million for a 33-year-old.

Perez has had his highs and lows during his time as the president but he has been learning from his past mistakes to bring Real Madrid C.F back to where it belongs. Using all means necessary, both by flattery and by force, Florentino Pérez has become the undisputed ruler of one of the largest, most powerful football clubs in the world. When his personal influence hasn't cut it, Florentino hasn't hesitated to use his money. In the end, all of his rivals have either sided with him or have been sidelined.

Perez summed it all up himself when he said: "I am powerful in as much as I am president of Real Madrid".